Letters February 1945 - Ernst Jünger and Carl Schmitt

The final letters before the end of the war. This follows a card Schmitt sent with condolences for the death of Jünger's son. There are two more from Schmitt that follow, maybe tomorrow I can post them.

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ERNST JÜNGER to CARL SCHMITT

Kirchhorst, 10.2.1945

Dear Mr. Schmitt,

Your card has made me anxious. It also indicates that you are in circumstances that are not appropriate for you. If I have read correctly, you are living in Teerofen.

I, too, am now taking part in the Volkssturm, since I have been appointed company commander for Kirchhorst and the surrounding villages. But I am certainly less bothered by such things than they are.

My reading mainly consists of reports about shipwrecks – I started a collection of them in Paris, which serves me as a treasure trove here. From a constitutional point of view, the shipwreck hides a wealth of information. It contains all the elements of catastrophe and reveals both the human qualities that sink along with order and those that are independent of it. Recent history begins with the sinking of the Titanic; even then it was seen as an omen.

I am very grateful to Ernstel. During our holidays in the last few years, we had many a meaningful conversation on our walks through the moors. From time to time I passed a patch of woods where he said to me: "The curiosity for things beyond is often so strong that one can hardly wait for death." I gather from the brief reports I received that he at least did not avoid facing it head on. I hope that I will be granted the privilege of erecting a monument to the boy. In the last two years I have lost my father, my son, and my hometown.

We are now in the deepest rings of the Maelstrom, acquaintances, friends, brothers are in the greatest danger. Nevertheless, I intend to discuss these months in detail with you over a good drop of wine one day. The most unpleasant thing about this time is that one can hardly find anyone with whom one can discuss its background. The entire intelligentsia is lost in pros and cons, lightless in the smoke. The metaphysical impoverishment of the youth is appalling; Cramer von Laue, by the way, is a good exception.

With warm wishes for you and your family

Your Ernst Jünger

PS: One should now also read again in Flavius Josephus, the tenacity of the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem is extraordinary. One of the experiences of this time is that there is no return to paganism, to the ancestral bond. There is only a choice between the Old and the New Testament – any attack on the New benefits the Old.

This is one reason for the tremendous spread of Jewish morality, apart from the fact that this morality has now become free and virulent through the extermination of the Jews to whom it was bound. There is something ghostly about the way the blinded will leads itself ad absurdum.

E.J.

Dear friend.

We remember you daily, and all we can wish for is the "Dennoch". May you all pass this last stage, and may we meet again. I do not lose faith in this.

Our child has now left everything behind him, you know what this loss means to us, it was the hardest blow that could have hit us. In comparison, everything that surrounds us loses its horror; I find no consolation.

Always write to us how you are, we were often worried.

All the best to you!

Yours sincerely, Gretha Jünger.

CARL SCHMITT to ERNST JÜNGER

Berlin-Schlachtensee, 25 February 1945.

Dear Mr. Jünger!

Your letter of 10 February arrived here on 19 February. It is a great comfort to me. Ernstel's statement is of a youthful beauty. It belongs entirely to the picture I have formed of him and which is essentially determined by the hike to Buchholtz that the three of us made (I think in April 1942) when you both accompanied me back after a visit to Kirchhorst.

I am on leave of absence from Volkssturm for some time and note that being in Volkssturm has certain advantages in the sense of Rivarol's theorem of the obscurite. Incidentally, you have correctly identified the "tar oven" as such. But there I encountered a poem by Annette von Dr. H. "Gründonnerstag", into which I sank myself with all the roots of my soul, into every word and every verse, and into the rhythm of its prayer-book metre, which, like a protective wall against a merely lyrical beauty, encloses the poem. I owe the access to the poem "Durchwachte Nacht" to you. This "Maundy Thursday" confronted me as I searched for "Durchwachte Nacht" to strengthen myself. Now I live in a childlike expectation of the coming Maundy Thursday, which this year has its calendar date on 29 March.

What you say about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments is obviously true and is the key to what is happening to us today. At the end of one of Bruno Bauer's anti-Jewish writings from 1853, "Das Judentum in der Fremde" ("Judaism in foreign lands"), it literally says: " But after all, God also created the Jews, and if we kill them all, we will all take their place." Here is the book by Walter Schubart: " Europe and the Soul of the East", which you once asked about 1-2 years ago, I have since had in my hand, unfortunately only for an hour. It was published in 1938 by Vita Nova Verlag in Lucerne. A book from the estate has been published by C. H. Beck: "Religion und Eros" which is still available.

I would like to tell you about my trip to Spain in May 1944. With the help of some Andalusian friends, I was able to make good studies of the Amontillado that grows there. There is now a southern wine of this name and a drinking wine from the village of Amontillado. I am inclined to think that Poe had not the Jerez but the drinking wine in mind with his novella.

Mrs. Schmitt has often wanted to write to your wife, but has not yet been able to carry out her intention. She wept very much at the news of Ernstel's death. Our wish to see all three of you soon becomes more vivid every day. Uncle Hans left this life on 2 February.

When Dr. Burmeister's trip comes about, I will give him a letter for you. Of course, it would be best if I could come to you myself, or if you could come to us. Best regards to you and your dear and honoured wife!

Yours sincerely, Carl Schmitt.